Nissan might bring Daimler into the U.S. light-commercial vehicle market

Nissan Motor Co. is bringing along its new partner, Daimler AG, in its efforts to succeed in the US light-commercial vehicle market. Renault-Nissan and Daimler AG's global alliance will lead to the sharing of their US factories.

This could possibly bring these two companies together, with their brand names soon overlapping in the US market -- Nissan and Mercedes-Benz commercial vans.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche commented on the plans to share US factory resources. He said that this could "apply to the light commercial vehicle segment" and to some engine manufacturing.

He revealed that at the moment, there are no concrete plans yet but it's expected that these areas of investigation would lead to results.

Zetsche's comments would turn the attention to Nissan's entry into the US light commercial truck market in 2010.

So far, Nissan's only product aimed for the segment is the forthcoming NV2500 van. Nissan had recently completed a $118 million factory project to roll out the NV in Canton, Miss.

The NV is slated to go on sale in the fall. Zetsche also said Nissan dealers might be asked to share a version of the van with Freightliner or Mercedes truck retailers, or they could get a vehicle from a Daimler plant. [via autonews - sub. required]